The Philadelphia Flyers faced a 7-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday evening. The Flyers gave up four goals in the first period, one in the second and two in the third. Tampa went 3-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Lightning were on top of their game, and the Flyers were unable to stop the bleeding.
Tampa Bay overwhelmed the Flyers with a four-goal outburst -- two at even strength and two on the power play -- in the opening 11 minutes of the game. They generated nine of the game's first 10 shots on goal, and soon chased Flyers starting goalie Samuel Ersson (four goals allowed on 15 shots in 10:49). Flyers head coach John Tortorella drew a bench minor and then was ejected from the game. Philly found a measure of equilibrium over the rest of the period but massive damage had already been done.
Tampa defenseman Darren Raddysh collected three assists --- two secondaries and one primary -- on the game's first three goals. At 1:49, Victor Hedman (11th goal of the season) wristed a point shot through a partial screen for a 1-0 lead. Nikita Kucherov earned the primary assist. At 5:55. Nick Paul scored a power play goal (18th) in a scramble near the net after Ersson couldn't prevent a rebound. The primary assist went to the debuting Anthony Duclair. On the third goal, scored by Conor Sheary (9th) at 9:10, Ersson was beaten over the pad and below the glove on a routine looking and clear sighted shot from above the hash marks. Raddysh got the lone assist. With Tampa back on the power play, the Flyers paid the price for multiple failed clears and the deadly Brayden Point (33rd) scored on a rebound in the center slot. The assists went to Steven Stamos and Hedman.
The middle frame was better for the Flyers from a territorial standpoint. However, the Flyers exited to the second intermission down by another goal.
Tampa made it 5-0 at 15:42 of the second period. The Flyers appeared to escape trouble after an initial errant play up high in the attack zone but Tampa's Stamkos stayed with the play. Stamkos threaded a seeing-eye pass through Marc Staal to Anthony Duclair (17th of the season, first with Tampa), who scored near the left post. The lone assist went to Stamkos.
The Flyers had an early third period power play that failed to generate any pressure. Tampa then responded with a wave of attack and two more goals for a 7-0 lead.
At 7:31, Tampa scored their sixth goal. The Flyers sent out a line with Joel Farabee centering Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster. The Flyers gave up on a 2-on-1 that became a 3-on-2. From the center slot, Hedman scored his second goal of the game (12th of the season). At 8:16, with Sean Couturier in the box for a high sticking minor, Tampa struck for their third power play goal of the game on a Brandon Hagel shot (23rd goal of the season) under the crossbar The assists went to Raddysh (fourth of the game) and Michael Eyssimont.
At 17:58, Hathaway was dispatched to the locker room on his second 10-minute misconduct of the game. Moments after the next faceoff, Atkinson went at it with Eyssimont. It was a very short altercation, but both players received fighting majors: the first fight of Atkinson's NHL career. Frost made a nice move through the neutral zone but had a shot attempt blocked out of play.
Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded a 25-save shutout. In relief of Ersson, Felix Sandström stopped eight of 11 shots.
Egor Zamula (llness) was unavailable to play, Unable to get an emergency recall to Tampa in time, the Flyers dressed 13 forwards and five defensemen, Erik Johnson and Denis Gurianov made their respective Flyers debuts.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
71 Tyson Foerster - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 74 Owen Tippett
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
15 Denis Gurianov
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
18 Marc Staal - 77 Erik Johnson
[rotation] - 23 Ronnie Attard
33 Samuel Ersson
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
The game got off to ominous start for the Flyers with a dangerous turnover and, two shifts later, a Tampa goal on the game's first shot on net. Things went downhill from there for the Flyers.
POSTGAME 5
1) Owen Tippett turned the puck over in his own zone on the game's second shift. Staal erased the chance by blocking a Brandon Hagel shot. At 1:49, Hedman scored on the game's first shot on goal to give Tampa a quick 1-0 lead. The line of Cates, Poehling and Hathaway plus a defense pair of York and Attard were on the Flyers.
After a lengthy delayed call, the Lightning went to the game's first power play at 4:31 as Attard was called for holding.Ersson stopped an Anthony Cirelli deflection near the net. Stamos put a left circle shot net that Ersson gloved down. Paul scored in a scramble at 5:55 for a 2-0 lead.
Immediately off the ensuing center ice faceoff, Deslauriers dropped the gloves with Austin Watson. The Lightning hemmed the Flyers in their own end on the next shift. Shots on goal were now 9-1 Tampa. Tampa's Sheary made it 3- at 9:10 on a shot Ersson likely would have wanted back.
At 9:24, Attard was called for tripping on a marginal-at-best penalty. At 10:02, Hathaway was tagged with a 10-minute misconduct. The Flyers failed two clearing opportunities and then Point scored on a rebound into the slot for a 4-0 lead. Tortorella called timeout and received a bench minor for berating young referee was ejected from the game. Felix Sandström entered the game. On a shorthanded attempt, Couturier put a side-angle shot off Vasilevskiy's blocker. Cates intercepted an errant pass and cleared the puck.
The Flyers went to the power play at 14:08 as Michael Eyssimont tripped Sandström behind the Flyes' net. The PP1 unit failed two entry attempts. The second unit generated somewhat better pressure including a scoring chance for Foerster but did not score.
2) First period shots on goal were 16-9 Tampa. Shot attempts were 28-17 Tampa. Scoring chances were 16-9 Lightning. High-danger scoring chances were 5-1 Tampa. Faceoffs were 11-8 Flyers.
3) Sandström made a great glove save on Raddysh at 1:38 off a pass by Kucherov after the Flyers failed a pair of chances to break out of the defensive zone. At the other end, Couturier directed a Konecny feed just wide of the net. The Flyers generated pressure near the five-minute mark courtesy of the Poehling line but then gave up a 2-on-1 on a miscue up high in the attack zone by Johnson.
Couturier fought debuting Tampa defenseman Matt Dumba in front of the Tampa net at 9:04. It was Couturier's first fight since the 2017-18 season. On the next shift, Sanheim went off gingerly but stayed on the bench and returned after the next defense pair rotation.
At 10:32, Tippett passed up an open shot as he looked instead to set up Farabee, but missed connections. At the other end on the next shift, Hedman hit the post as Tippett lost his weak-side coverage.
Poehling was denied in front after forcing a Florida turnover. Hathaway was blocked on a rebound attempt. Subsequently, Cates had a look. On the next shift, Erik Cernak had to leave the game with 42.9 seconds left in the second period after getting tangled with Tippett.
4) Second period shots on goal were 11-4 Flyers (tied at 20-20 overall). Shot attempts were 26-15 Flyers (35-28 Tampa overall). Scoring chances were 11-4 Flyers (18-18 overall). High-danger scoring chances were 4-2 Flyers 7-5 Lightning overall). Faceoffs were 11-7 Flyers (22-15 Flyers overall).
5) The Flyers spent the first shift of the third period in the Tampa zone. On the next shift, Tippett blocked a shot off the back of his left skate. He went up the tunnel slowly, although under his own power.
At 2:00, Atkinson was cross-checked by Raddysh behind the Tampa net. The Flyers went to the power play. Tippett returned for the power play. Philadelphia did not generate any scoring chances to fall to just five for their last 52 power plays. With play back at 5-on-5, Tampa threatened on two of the next three shifts. Through 7:03, shots on goal were 5-3 Tampa.
Thing rapidly went downhill again. By 8:16, it was 7-0 Tampa. Kucherov was called for holding at 10:22. The Flyers had another poor power play. Notably, they experimented with Gurianov on this power pay.
Third period shots on goal were 7-5 Tampa (26-25 Lightning overall). Shot attempts were 16-11 Tampa (57-55 Tampa overall). Scoring chances were 9-6 Lightning (26-25 Lightning overall). High-danger scoring chances were 4-1 Tampa (11-7 Tampa overall). Faceoffs were 8-7 Tampa (29-23 Flyers overall).
